Naked Aggression Against East Timor

IN defiance of strong opposition on the part of the people of East Timor and denunciation by world public opinion, President Suharto brazenly signed on July 17 a so-called special bill of the Indonesian Parliament to annex East Timor. This is naked aggression against a sovereign state by the Indonesian authorities.Nicolau Lobato, Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of East Timor, declared in a message on July 20 that the people of East Timor resolutely oppose the Indonesian annexation of their country and reiterated that they are resolved to continue the national-liberation war to drive out the Indonesian aggressor troops. The Chinese people resolutely support this just stand of the Democratic Republic of East Timor.

The people of East Timor have for centuries waged a courageous struggle for national liberation against the Portuguese colonialists. They finally freed themselves from Portuguese colonial rule in November 1975 when independence was proclaimed and the Democratic Republic of East Timor established. However, the Indonesian authorities, harbouring territorial ambitions for East Timor, launched an armed aggression against this new sovereign state a few days after its birth and barbarously massacred its people. This act of aggression met with firm resistance from the East Timorese people and the Indonesian authorities were bitterly denounced by justice-upholding people of various countries and public opinion throughout the world. The United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council adopted three resolutions separately in December 1975 and April 1976 denouncing Indonesia's act of Aggression, calling on all countries to respect the territorial integrity of East Timor and the inviolable right of self-determination of its people and demanding the withdrawal of the Indonesian aggressor troops from east Timor. The Indonesian Government refused to abide by the U.N. Security Council resolutions, stubbornly continued and expanded its armed aggression on East Timor and, as a result, made itself more and more isolated internationally. To throw a cloak of legality over their act of aggression, the Indonesian authorities not long ago; staged an odious farce of having an "East Timorese people's assembly "unanimously agreeing to East Timor's integration with the Republic of Indonesia/' On the eve of the East Timor puppet "provisional government's" convening the so-called "first session of the East Timorese people's assembly," the Indonesian Government invited foreign envoys of more than 20 countries accredited to Indonesia to attend the session. But this was turned down by diplomats of most countries. Later, the Indonesian Government extended invitations to diplomatic missions of 50 countries in Indonesia to "visit" Dili, but only a mere handful accepted. This fact further demonstrates how unpopular Indonesia's aggression against East Timor is internationally. The East Timorese people under the leadership of the Revolutionary Front for Independence of East Timor (FRETILIN) and the Government of the Democratic Republic of East Timor are continuing their courageous fight against the Indonesian aggressor troops and are in control of 85 per cent of the territory of the country. Reeling under the heavy blows of the East Timorese people, the Indonesian aggressors find themselves in an awkward predicament and beset with difficulties. The attempt of the Indonesian authorities to establish colonial order in East Timor with the help of a so-called special bill will never succeed. The will of the over 600,000 East Timorese people who love freedom and independence will not break. Their armed struggle against Indonesian aggression will be protracted and they are sure to encounter various difficulties in struggle. But we believe that with the sympathy and support of the people of the third world countries and throughout the world, the East Timorese people, uniting as one, bringing into full play the spirit of self-reliance and persisting in armed struggle, will win final victory in the national-liberation struggle.